Mitroi Claudia Magdalena

My Last Duchess"
Robert Browning

Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell (a suburb of London), the
first child of Robert and Sarah Anna Browning.He represents a very famous writer .
After multiple attempts of writing drama for the stage he discovered his inclinations and
fallowed it .He discovered that his real talent layed in taking a single character
allowing it to discover himself the public thorough his speeches these being the
characteristics of a dramatic monologue.
The poem on which I wish to discuss is :My last duchess . Murder... mystery...
intrigue... All describe Robert Browning's
poem, "My Last Duchess." From the speakers's indirect allusions to the death of his wife
the reader might easily think that the speaker committed a vengeful crime out of
jealousy. His flowery speech confuses and disguises any possible motives, however, and
the mystery is left unsolved. Based on the poem's style, structure, and historical
references, it becomes evident that even if the speaker did not directly kill his wife, he
certainly had something to hide.
This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara,
who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is
entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate the Dukes marriage (he has recently
been widowed) to the daughter of another powerful family. As he shows the visitor
through his palace, he stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young
and lovely girl. The Duke begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the
Duchess herself. His musings give way to a diatribe on her disgraceful behavior: he
claims she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate his gift of a nine-hundred-yearsold name. As his monologue continues, the reader realizes with ever-more chilling
certainty that the Duke in fact caused the Duchesss early demise: when her behavior

escalated, [he] gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. Having made this
disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at hand: arranging for another marriage,
with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary walk leave the painting behind,
the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection.
The style and structure of this poem play a significant role in the
effect of the poem. As is typical of Browning's poems, "My Last
Duchess" is written as a dramatic monologue: one speaker relates the
entire poem as if to another person present with him. Browning uses many techniques,
including a simple rhyme scheme, enjambment, and caesura to convey various
characteristics and qualities about the speaker and the situation. A poem can also
contain dramatic irony, a type of irony in poetry in which a naive speaker says something
that carries meaning beyond his or her own knowledge. this type of irony in poetry is
Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess." Throughout the poem, the duke unwittingly lets
on that he had her killed because of his uncontrollable jealousies, allowing the reader to
see something about the duke that he would rather keep concealed. There is a great deal
of irony in this statement that overwhelms any modesty that might have existed. The
duke's claim not to have skill in speech lies in the middle of a speech expertly constructed
with rhyming lines, regular meter, and imperious diction. An AABB rhyme scheme is
found regularly throughout the poem. Extemporaneously coming up with the words
necessary to carry out such a rhyme scheme would require a great deal skill in speech.
An iambic pentameter is used throughout almost the entire speech. This also requires a
fair deal of skill, for even though iambic speech is common in English, keeping it so well
regulated is difficult. Finally, the diction further shows the skill of the duke. He chooses
words that express his authority and his education along with what he was trying to say.
The duke knows that he has great skill in speech and he also knows that the emissary
knows this. He is only saying that he does not possess skill in speech because he knows
that his audience will not believe him. His show of modesty is merely an illusion, not true
modesty.
The overarching irony in Browning's "My Last Duchess" is that it really is not about the
duchess, but instead about the controlling, jealous, and arrogant nature of the duke. In

his monologue describing a painting of his former wife, the duke introduces us to his
dark and sinister qualities. By giving us the Duke of Ferrara as an example, Robert
Browning subtly condemns the nobility for their poor character.